Flagler Lands Large Industrial Lease

(Crystal Proenza is associate editor of Real Estate Florida.)

MIAMI-Flagler Development Group has signed an undisclosed tenant to its Flagler Station business park in the Airport West submarket. The 10-year, 240,000-square-foot lease is with a Midwest-based Fortune 500 company, according to the development firm.

Although Flagler declined to identify the tenant, industry experts speculate that it will be Deerfield, IL-based LagasseSweet, a wholesale distributor with locations throughout the country that was reportedly seeking 250,000 square feet this summer. According to Lagasse’s Web site, there is currently one export division location listed in Hialeah at 215 SE 10th Ave. A call to the firm was not returned by deadline.

The new tenant will occupy 73% of a 328,000-square-foot office/industrial building currently being constructed at Flagler Station. The building will feature 30-foot clear ceilings, says Rafael Romero, vice president with Flagler, who secured the deal along with Stuart Gordon, senior leasing director. They tell GlobeSt.com that the new tenant will occupy the space when the building is completed in May or June 2009, adding that the client has an option to expand another 210,000 square feet.

“At that point, we would construct another building within our portfolio” to accommodate the client all under one roof, Gordon explains. Further details about the lease, including the value, were not disclosed. Average asking rents in the Airport West submarket are $8.46 per square foot, according to the Cushman & Wakefield.

“The lease continues to show the strength of the Miami market because such a large tenant has a lot of options and could have gone elsewhere in South Florida,” says Romero. Flagler boasts that it has signed nearly a million square feet at Flagler Station over the past year, bringing the occupancy level to 94%. When complete, the new building will be located within the park at the northwest corner of NW 108th Avenue and NW 103rd Street.